Glastonbury Abbey

We found ourselves near Glastonbury so spent part of a day there, mostly at Glastonbury Abbey. It was a pleasant, well-kept site within which we wandered amongst the ruins, ate our sandwiches on a bench under a dappling tree, and learned some interesting historical facts.




In the 16th century, King Henry VIII abolished and demolished most of the monastic system in England. Therefore there are some sites like this around the country, where cathedrals, convents, abbeys, monastaries and the like are now ruins rising out of mowed green lawns and are visited by tourists, just as intact cathedrals are.


For more info on Henry VIII's destruction, peruse this web page: http://www.tudorplace.com.ar/Documents/suppression_of_english_monasteri.htm


And then there's the whole Arthurian legend. We didn't have time to delve into that or climb the Tor. For more info on this and other mythical aspects of Glastonbury, go to http://www.time-scapes.co.uk/Glastonbury/glastonburylandh.html